Newsletter for week ending 20th December 2013

End of Term Assembly
Everyone is welcome to our end of term assembly at 9.10am on Friday. We anticipate that this is likely to generate an increased number of vehicles and consequent pressure on suitable parking spaces. We respectfully request that families consider the needs of local residents and avoid parking in Cratlands Close. School and Little Bears staff will park on the netball court, freeing up a limited number of spaces in the school car park.

Thank you!
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to parents and carers, the PTA, our Governing Body and all other members of the local community who have given us so much support in so many different ways over the last term. The lead-up to Christmas is always a particularly busy time of year and we would like to thank everyone involved for their support in helping to make all our Christmas events so successful. Special thanks to Ms Cyprien for her amazing face-painting of many pupils in our KS2 production ‘Hoodwinked’, to Mrs Burnell for decorating cakes and making lots of wonderful cookies for the Christmas party on Tuesday, to Mr and Mrs Bowerman for their help in organising the Forest Schools fundraising disco and to Mrs Dobson, Mrs Madry and Mrs Elliott for their admin support over the last few months. We are very fortunate to have so many supportive parents.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all pupils and staff for their hard work and commitment to all our events. The Christmas season may be a very busy time of year for us but it is also a very special one!
Thank you to everyone who gave a £1 on “party day” to help with the fundraising for Forest Schools. This raised £56. We will let you know how much was raised at the Forest Schools disco in our assembly on Friday.

School Nativity Service
Thank you to all families who were able to join us for this service. It is always a special occasion and this year we received many comments on how wonderful the singing was – not to mention how angelic the Reception pupils looked! It was lovely to be able to hold our service in the atmospheric setting of the Church. Thank you to Mr Manzie for providing and operating the sound system which made such a difference and to the team of mums who helped put the furniture back and sweep the floor!

School Website Additions
We have uploaded the dates of the After School Clubs in Term 3 to our website, so that parents have access to them as a reference point. We have also added a link to CEOP, whose work is crucial in the protection of children from exploitation and the promotion of online protection. Finally, we have uploaded some photographs from the Christmas productions and school Christmas Party.

Reminder about consultation on Home to School transport
We would encourage all parents to complete the questionnaire as part of the consultation using the following link to ensure that your feelings are known:

https://myconsultations.oxfordshire.gov.uk/consult.ti/transport2015/view?objectId=521987

The deadline for responding was 20th December 2013.
See article below explaining about the deadline extension. However, we would encourage all parents/carers to respond before Christmas, just in case you forget to do it!

www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/yourtown/oxfordshire/10883177.Activists_angry_as_county_extends_debate_on_school_bus_charges?ref=rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Young Mathematicians Competition
On Wednesday 27th November, Year 6 pupils Thea, Max, Owen and Ella were invited to the regional finals of the Young Mathematician competion at Explore Learning, Oxford, after successfully scoring highly enough to qualify in the first round of local finals. They had yet another tricky maths problem to work through as a team, involving swimming pools, ribbons and finding all the possibilities! The level of competition was extremely high and our pupils enjoyed the challenge and a chance to work in a different setting.

Whilst they did not score quite enough to qualify for the national final round of the competition they can all be very proud of their performance. The feedback from Explore Learning was that they 'continued to work extremely well as a team and showed great enthusiasm and focus for the task, well done!'

This is the first time we have taken part in this maths competition and we shall definitely be entering a team next year!

Primary Maths Challenge
Every year we take part in the Mathematical Association’s annual ‘Primary Maths Challenge’, a national competition, which aims to challenge children with a range of problem solving and logic-based questions.

Congratulations to Abby Wright, Ruby Dallimore, Max Lansley, Owen Cove, Ella Perring, Lola Odell and Thea Diment for competing in the Primary Maths Challenge 2013.

Here is what Abby and Ruby thought about the maths challenge “It was very hard and we struggled on some of the questions - the last five were not multiple choice so they were the hardest! However we enjoyed a chance to try some different types of questions and we felt confident enough to have a go after some practice sessions with Miss Shah. We are proud to say that every one of us got a certificate; 4 of us got silver and 3 of us got bronze!”

After School Clubs in Term 3
Spaces are still available on the Photography Course for pupils in Years 3-6 and the Cheerleading/Street Dance Club and Multisports Club which are open to all pupils. Archery and Art clubs will restart after the Easter holiday.

School Meals
A reminder that school meals cost £2 per day. Cheques for school meals should be made payable to Oxfordshire County Council please with Stadhampton Primary School written on the back of the cheque. In order to reduce administration time spent on school meals we appreciate receiving orders and payments for school meals on the first morning of each school week. Thank you.

Swimming at Berinsfield
Swimming will begin for Class 2 pupils on Monday 13th January. They will have a total of 5 sessions. As always, we hope that parents will be willing to help with the transport costs to Berinsfield with a contribution of £2 per swimming session. Thank you to the parents/carers of pupils in Class 3 who made a contribution last term. Cheques for swimming contributions should be made payable to Stadhampton Primary School, please.

PTA News
Our next PTA meeting is on Tuesday 14th January 8pm at The Crown, new members very much welcomed. We will be discussing events for next year so if you have any good ideas for different events and would like to get involved with the PTA, please do come along.

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents and staff at the school for a fantastic fundraising year and also the PTA members for all their continued hard work and support. I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Cake Club
Congratulations to Mia Gravett who was the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Diment. A reminder to Mrs Bourne that she is on the rota for 10th January, the first Friday back after Christmas. There are 6 weeks in the next half term, so if you would like to pay for Cake Club, the full amount will be £1.20, or if you would like to take it up to Easter £2.40. Please see Rowena Dobson.


DIARY DATES:
Monday 6 January Staff Inset Day
Tuesday 7 January Pupils return to school for the start of Term 3
Tuesday 14 January First After School – Cheer Leading/Street Dance Club
Wednesday 15 January First After School – Photography Club
Thursday 16 January First After School – Multisports Club

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Little Bears would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
We return on Tuesday 7th January 2014.
A huge thank you to everyone who came and supported our Christmas nativity on Saturday.
I think we will all agree that the Little Bears were truly amazing.


Happy Christmas from everyone at Stadhampton School!

We look forward to seeing everyone again in the New Year.

Newsletter for week ending 13th December 2013

Message from the Governing Body about Home to School Transport
As you are no doubt aware the Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) has to make significant cost savings in the forthcoming budgets. One of their proposals is to change the Home to School Transport arrangement, which would mean free travel would only be provided to the nearest school. There is an ongoing consultation and as you know, there was a consultation meeting held at Icknield Community College on Monday 2nd December with many Stadhampton parents in attendance.

We wanted to take this opportunity to recap on the potential impact for Stadhampton, Chiselhampton, Newington and other local villages.

The current proposal is that pupils will only be entitled to free transport to their nearest school, which for the majority of Stadhampton unfortunately is not our catchment school. Of concern to many parents who attended the consultation meetings is that depending on where you live in the village your nearest school could be any one of four schools: The Oxford Academy, Wallingford, Wheatley Park and Icknield – which has obvious implications for our community. There are provisions in the consultation (under A2) to prevent villages being ‘split’, however given that Icknield is technically one of the furthest schools from the village (by a matter of 0.25 to 0.5 miles) whether this will apply to Stadhampton and enable all of the village to enjoy free transport to Icknield is by no means guaranteed.

It should be noted that this is a consultation, and therefore nothing has been formally agreed as yet. We wanted to take this opportunity to provide you with all the information that is available in this regard, and encourage you to take a few minutes to respond to the consultation online before the deadline of 20 December 2013.

Where can I learn more?
There is a significant amount of detail about the consultation online:

https://myconsultations.oxfordshire.gov.uk/consult.ti/transport2015/consultationHome

There is a very active group (Oxon Schools Bus Action Group) who are challenging the proposals and their Facebook page has lots of information regarding the protests that have been occurring across the county:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oxon-School-Bus-Action-Group/146863815505334

What can I do?
We would encourage all parents to complete the questionnaire as part of the consultation at the following link to ensure that your feelings are known:

https://myconsultations.oxfordshire.gov.uk/consult.ti/transport2015/view?objectId=521987
You will see from some of the correspondence on the Facebook site that there is strong feeling that making changes that misalign the catchment school and the school to which free transport is provided is not in anyone’s, but particularly the pupil’s best interest. The Council’s view is that savings will be achieved because parents will continue to send their children to the catchment school, however because this will be a parental choice, then in some cases free transport will not be provided.

What has the school and the Governing Body done?
In addition to responding to the consultation individually and as a Governing Body, we have been thinking what else we can do to try to raise the awareness of the issues to those on the council that may be able to influence the end result.

The Governing Body have been corresponding with the other Watlington Partnership schools in an effort to respond to the consultation as a Partnership, as this will demonstrate the broader impact that these proposals will have on Icknield and other rural communities.

A letter has been prepared to represent our views and this will be submitted to our local Councillor with a request to make sure these views are represented to OCC. We also intend to send a copy of this letter to John Howell, MP.

In addition we have been in dialogue with our local Councillor, Lorraine Lindsey-Gale, to request a meeting with her to discuss alternative strategies that would assist Stadhampton. We are hopeful to get a meeting scheduled very soon.

Next steps
Once the consultation is over a decision will be made in the New Year and this is expected to be implemented from Summer 2014. We will be closely monitoring the situation and will continue to provide feedback as more is learned through the end of the consultation.

Adopted pupils will now qualify for the Pupil Premium Grant - urgent action needed
Please see book bags for a letter about this.

Christmas Productions
Congratulations to all pupils on their splendid performances in the KS1 and KS2 Christmas productions this week. We received many compliments about each performance and pupils should be very proud of themselves. Thank you to school staff for preparing pupils for the performances, making and selling tickets, creating the scenery and making props, thank you to parents for helping with costumes, learning of lines and buying tickets to come along and watch. Special thanks to Sue Cyprien for helping with the face painting and to the PTA for serving refreshments on Tuesday evening. The total raised from ticket sales was £433 and this will go towards the purchase of I-pads and a storage unit. Each class will have two I-pads which will be used from the start of Term 3.

Reverend Caroline, who is also a school governor, watched both productions and sent this note which we thought we would share with you:

“It was a privilege to see both school Christmas productions, both played to a packed and enthusiastic audience. The KS2 children performed ‘Hoodwinked’, based on the story of Robin Hood; it was obvious that a large cast had worked very hard and performed with humour, skill and great comic timing, the musical parts were performed well. I especially enjoyed the confident way the cast led the audience in some good old fashioned pantomime humour, they also combined some topical and local references.


The younger children performed a traditional nativity through the narrative of a star that wouldn’t shine, again it was wonderful to see all of KS1 involved in a well rehearsed, energetic play with wonderfully sung contributions. Their enthusiasm was infectious again including some old fashioned panto humour and willing audience participation. The costumes were magnificent!


Huge thanks to all staff and pupils for such wonderful end of term productions; they can all feel justly proud for the undoubted hard work and effort; a triumph for all involved!”

Visit to Church on Monday 16th December
We would like to make families aware that all classes are planning to visit the church next Monday as part of our preparations for the Nativity Service next Wednesday.


Letters about the National Childhood Measuring Programme
The School Health Team have written to advise us that they will be in school on 10th February 2014 to measure the height and weight of children in Reception and Year 6. Letters about this have been put in book bags this week.

Mr Ansell
We say goodbye today to Mr Ansell, a PGCE student from Oxford Brookes University, who has been working with pupils in Class 3 over the last eight weeks. Mr Ansell has been a great asset to the school and we thank him for his contribution.

Reminder about next week’s events:

Monday 16 Archery ASC Final Archery session
Tuesday 17 Christmas Party afternoon Lunch as normal. Pupils may bring party clothes to change into after lunch. Optional donation of £1 towards Forest Schools fundraising. Food supplied by PTA.
No clarinets.
ASC Dance Club on as usual. The dance club are putting on a show for parents at 4pm, so please do come along to see it.
PTA wreath making evening – forms available from school office
Wednesday 18 Nativity Service Everyone welcome to join us for this event in Church which starts at 2.15pm. No art club.
Thursday 19 School Christmas lunch We hope all pupils will have school lunch today with crackers, music, etc. Staff serve pupils with their lunch. Same price as a normal school meal - £2.
Christmas Disco at 6pm to raise funds for Forest Schools. Tickets on sale priced at £3. A raffle will be held during the evening (50p a ticket).
Multisports ASC on as usual.
Friday 20 End of term assembly
Early finish Everyone welcome to attend end of term assembly at 9.05am. Lunch as normal.
School closes at 1.30pm

PTA News
Wreath making evening-Tuesday 17th, we still have a few spaces available so please fill in a form in the office to guarantee your place.

Winter Fair- we made a massive £1100 this year, which is fantastic. Thank you again to everyone for all your support.


Cake Club
Congratulations to Phoebe Watkins who was the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Perring. A reminder to Mrs Bowerman that she is on the rota for 20th December.

If anyone would like to donate a cake who has not already done so, we need cakes from 14 February onwards. Please see Rowena to get your name down on the rota. Don’t forget, it doesn’t have to be homemade. Bought cakes are just as well received!


DIARY DATES:
Monday 23 December One-day Sports Course at Stadhampton School for participating pupils. See notices in each classroom entrance area for more information and details of how to book.
Monday 6 January Staff Inset Day
Tuesday 7 January Pupils return to school for the start of Term 3

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Next week the Little Bears book is 'Twas the night before Christmas' and we will be talking about how we get ready for Christmas with our families and also making stockings.
Little Bears hope to go to the Nativity Service at Stadhampton Church on the 18th December and the last day of term is 20th December. Our Little Bears party is on Friday 20th December from 11.30 - 1pm. All Llittle Bears are welcome. We also have a very special visitor too. We return on 7th January 2014 to the topic ‘Opposites’.

Newsletter for week ending 6th December 2013

Home to School Transport Meeting at ICC on Monday 2nd December
Thank you to the high number of parents/carers and school governors who attended the consultation meeting on Monday 2nd December at Icknield Community College to find out more about the OCC proposals. The strength of feeling was evident at the meeting as to the impact that these proposals would have on both Icknield CC and the partnership schools that form its catchment area. The panel explained that the plans are focussed on achieving the OCC cost savings required, however there were a number of concerns and questions raised about the assumptions that had been included in the financial modelling.

The current proposal is that pupils will only be entitled to free transport to your nearest school, which for the majority of Stadhampton unfortunately is not our catchment school. Of concern to many parents who attended the consultation meetings is that depending on where you live in the village your nearest school could be any one of four schools: The Oxford Academy, Wallingford, Wheatley Park and Icknield – which has obvious implications for our community.

It should be stressed that the proposals at this stage will not change our catchment school which remains as Icknield Community College. However, parents may find that, although they live in the catchment area for Icknield Community College, the fact that other schools are nearer means that they would be faced with a £600 bill (per pupil) for transport if these changes are voted through. We urge parents to individually respond to the consultation, as attached to our newsletter of 22.11.2013. The School and the Governing Body are in discussions with other members of the Partnership to discuss how we can collectively respond and will keep parents updated with respect to the action that we are taking.

Cars/vans in Cratlands Close
A resident of Cratlands Close has expressed her concern this week at how difficult it can be to cross the road safely in Cratlands Close when there are so many cars/vans parked on the kerbs. We have agreement from the landlord of The Crown pub for parents/carers to use their car park at the beginning and end of the school day to drop off or collect children from school. In the interest of safety for all pupils, it would be particularly helpful if those parents/carers who drive large vehicles especially vans, could park in The Crown pub if there is not a space available in the school car park rather than obstruct the pavements and hinder the visibility of those people attempting to cross the road safely with their children. In anticipation, we thank all parents/carers for their co-operation in this matter.

Emergency Closure Procedures
If the weather is particularly bad or there are power cuts in the village and the decision is made to close the school, the information is given to parents through BBC Radio Oxford, Jack FM and Heart FM. Parents are advised to tune into these local radio stations and also check their websites if there is a possibility that the school could be closed. We will also do our best to put a message onto the school website if there is power!

Archery After School Club
We have been advised that Mr Chrisp will not be available to provide the after school archery club on Monday 9th December. Therefore the final session will take place on Monday 16th December. We apologise for the inconvenience this causes. Refunds will be issued for the missed session.

Contributions to the cost of the swimming transport
Thank you to those families in Class 3 who have already made contributions this term towards the cost of the swimming transport. The cost of the transport for 7 swimming sessions is £420 and to date we have received well below half of this cost from voluntary parental contributions. If any more parents would be willing to contribute to this cost it would be very much appreciated. If you are unsure whether you have paid or not please ask in the school office. Thank you.

Thank you
Thank you to Mr and Mrs Tuckwell who have very kindly supplied us with a beautiful Christmas tree again this year.

Play tickets
Tickets are required for all performances of the KS1 and KS2 school plays. They are on sale now from the school office priced at £2 each. All monies raised this year will go towards buying some mini I-pads for each classroom to use. Once again we are very grateful to the PTA who will be supplying refreshments at the end of the KS2 evening performance.

KS2 Costume Reminder
Thank you to those people who have already brought their costumes into school. A reminder that all costumes need to be in school by Friday 6th December, prior to the dress rehearsal on Monday 9th December.

Forest School Disco- Thursday 19th December from 6.00-7.30pm
Tickets are now on sale for the Forest School disco priced at £3 each. There will also be a raffle held on the evening and we hope that children will be able to bring along some extra money to buy a raffle ticket or two. Raffle tickets will cost 50p each and we have about fifteen prizes so far!

School Christmas Party
We are very aware of just how much we have asked of parents and carers this year and therefore the school/PTA will pay for the cost of the party food for this year’s school Christmas party on the afternoon of Tuesday 17th December.
Traditionally, pupils bring party clothes to school to change into after lunch. We do not usually make a request for a financial donation for this event however, if any families would be willing to make a £1 donation towards Forest School this would be very much appreciated.

School Christmas Lunch
We hope all pupils will join us for a special Christmas lunch with napkins and crackers on Thursday 19th December. Children will make their own special place mat in school during the morning. During lunchtime we have Christmas music playing and the staff serve the children with their lunch -it is a really fun and festive occasion which we hope all children will partipate in. The cost is the same as for a normal school meal (£2) and payment can be made at any time before the day. Thank you.

PTA Message to Parents
Winter Fair:
Thank you very much to everyone who came and supported the Winter Fair last Friday; it was a great night and the total raised will be announced in next week’s newsletter once everything has been counted and verified; special thanks to the PTA team and volunteers who helped to ‘man’ the stalls and clear up on the night.

Wreath making evening -Tuesday 17th December
There are still places available for this great evening which also raises money for the PTA. Booking forms are available from the school office. Please do think about coming if you can.

Cake Club
Congratulations to Mya Khan who was the lucky winner of last week’s cake, kindly donated by Mrs Gravett. A reminder to Mrs Diment that she is on the rota for 13th December.


DIARY DATES:
Friday 6 December Singing Club performing at the Christmas Market at The Village Hall at St John’s Stadhampton at 4pm.
Tuesday 10 December KS2 (Classes 2 & 3) - both matinee and evening performances 1.45pm / 6.30pm. Tickets on sale now from the school office.
Wednesday 11 December FS/KS1 (Reception & Class 1) - matinee performance only 2.00 for 2.15pm start. Tickets on sale now from the school office.
Tuesday 17 December School Christmas Party – please donate £1 to our Forest School fund for your child to wear party clothes in the afternoon
Wednesday 18 December Nativity Service – The Village Hall at St John’s Church 2.15pm. Everyone welcome to join us for this event.
Thursday 19 December School Christmas lunch for all £2. Payment welcomed at any time now.
Disco for Forest School – tickets on sale now priced at £3 each. Raffle tickets 50p each.
Friday 20 December End of term assembly at 9.05am. Everyone welcome.
School finishes at 1.30pm – please note earlier break up time.
Monday 23 December One-day Sports Course at Stadhampton School for participating pupils. See notices in each classroom entrance area for more information and details of how to book.

LITTLE BEARS NEWS:
Next week our book of the week is the “Jolly Christmas Postman;” Little Bears post-box is in the main entrance of Little Bears and there will be a class list so we can start to post our Christmas letters. The Little Bears Nativity is on the 14th December so we will be practising all our songs ready for our performance at 2pm.

Community News:
• Flyer attached about an Allergy Support meeting
• Flyer attached about one day Sports Course here on Monday 23rd December